Area women on St. Louis company boards

St. Louis public companies combined have 37 women filling 40 board seats. (Some women serve on more than one board.) Of those women, 12 are from the area. In this section, we focus on those St. Louis women taking action and serving in those directorships.

These women rose to their positions through varied routes. Susan Elliott and Brenda Newberry, for example, took their experience from corporate positions at major companies and tapped it when launching their own businesses. Meanwhile, Pam Nicholson started at Enterprise right out of college and worked her way all the way up to the president’s seat there. Blanche Touhill took a similar approach of staying with the same organization — the University of Missouri-St. Louis — for years until reaching the top spot. (She retired in 2002.) And once in those top spots, these women leveraged their experience to take positions on boards for major nonprofits, and then inside the for-profit arena.

Maxine Clark

Occupation: Chairman, president and chief executive of Build-A-Bear Workshop

Boards: Build-A-Bear Workshop, The J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Washington University in St. Louis, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Teach for America, KETC Channel 9, International Council of Shopping Centers

Clark, a former president of Payless ShoeSource Inc., founded Build-A-Bear Workshop, which first opened at the St. Louis Galleria in October 1998. The company has expanded to 330 stores, including 52 in Europe. As CEO of the customized teddy bear retail chain, Clark was recognized last year by Chain Store Age, a monthly trade publication, as one of their 25 Most Influential People in Retailing. In 2004, Clark was named a national finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Susan Elliott

A pioneering woman in the innovative technology field, Elliott founded SSE in 1966. She had previously worked at Boatmen’s Bank and as an advisory systems engineer at IBM. During her career, she has served as chairman and director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Boards she formerly served on include Angelica Corp., First National Bank of St. Louis, the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association and the Visiting Nurse Association. She has been a trustee for Webster University, the St. Louis Zoological Foundation and Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School.

Judith Graves

Occupation: Retired assistant director for administrative services and controller to the board of commissioners of the Saint Louis Art Museum

Boards: Allied Healthcare Products

Graves joined the Saint Louis Art Museum in 1984 and spent more than 20 years working on finance there. She also worked in accounting for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Region 5 of the Missouri Council on Criminal Justice and St. Louis County Juvenile Court.

Juanita Hinshaw

Occupation: President and CEO of H&H Advisers

Hinshaw joked in a 2007 Business Journal piece that she now spends her days as a “professional board member.” It’s the latest chapter in a career that saw her serve as a financial executive with Graybar, Monsanto, RJR Nabisco and Burlington Industries. Other previous board work includes stints with the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association and KETC Channel 9.

Gayle Jackson

Occupation: President of Energy Global Inc.

Boards: Ameren Corp., Atlas Pipeline Partners LP, Energy Global Inc.

Jackson has spent 30 years in the energy industry, starting at Peabody in 1978. She left there for a job at the International Energy Agency, where she worked for 14 years as chief of staff of the coal industry advisory board. She has served as deputy chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, a director of the Research Corp., a member of the Missouri Venture Forum and a trustee of Smith College, where she received her undergraduate degree. She has a master’s and PhD from Washington University.

Brenda Newberry

Occupation: Founder and chairman of The Newberry Group

Boards: Enterprise Financial Services Corp., Laclede Group, United Way of Greater St. Louis

Newberry left her corporate job at Mastercard International to launch her own business, a technology services firm that counts Monsanto and SSM Health Care among its clients. Newberry was named the SBA Missouri Small Business Person of the Year in 2005. She also has been named entrepreneur of the year by the St. Louis American and the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association. Newberry recently stepped down as chief executive of The Newberry Group, but she’s staying on as the company’s chairman.

Pam Nicholson

Nicholson joined Enterprise right out of college at the age of 21. The rental car company had about 10,000 vehicles in its fleet then. Twenty seven years later, she has worked her way to becoming the first person outside the Taylor family to serve as president of the company, which now has more than 1.1 million vehicles. She has been named one of the “Most Powerful Women in Business” by Fortune. While living in New York, she served on the board of the United Way of Bergen County, and she also has been on the board of INROADS of St. Louis.

Diane Sullivan

When Sullivan was tapped as president of Brown Shoe in December 2003, she became the first woman in that role at the company, which was founded in 1878. She joined Brown’s board of directors in 2007. She has served as chairperson for the March of Dimes St. Louis Chapter March for Babies initiative.

Mary Ann Van Lokeren

Occupation: Retired as chairman and CEO of Krey Distributing Co., an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler

Boards: Laclede Group, Masco Corp.

Van Lokeren’s husband, John Krey III, was high school pals with August Busch III, and John ran Krey Distributing, one of Anheuser-Busch’s most lucrative independent wholesalers. Van Lokeren took over the business when her husband died in 1986 and led the company for the next 20 years. Before her retirement, she also served on the boards for Commerce Bancshares, D&K Healthcare Resources, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Washington University in St. Louis. She’s also on the advisory council for Coro St. Louis.

Van Trease leads a group of 10 hospitals for BJC HealthCare; four of those hospitals are among the 15 largest in St. Louis. She’s also a member of the senior management team at BJC, the area’s largest employer. Before joining BJC in 2004, Van Trease worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield/RightChoice and Price Waterhouse. A St. Louis native, Van Trease received her undergraduate business degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and her MBA from Washington University. In addition to all of her current board work, Van Trease has previously served on the board of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and she sits on the Leadership Council for the College of Business Administration at UMSL.

Kim Walker

Boards: Commerce Bancshares Inc., Repertory Theatre of St. Louis

At Washington University, Walker oversees one of the country’s largest endowments at more than $5 billion. Before joining the university, Walker was president and chief investment officer of Qwest Asset Management, where she oversaw $14 billion in assets. She also spent 13 years in finance at General Motors, and in her most recent position there she was responsible for overseeing a $21 billion portfolio. She has previously served as chair of the Miami University Foundation Board, and she is a member of the University of Colorado Investment Advisory Committee.

Blanche Touhill

Occupation: Chancellor emeritus and professor emeritus at the University of Missouri-St. Louis

Board: Peabody Energy Corp.

Even if you’re not familiar with Blanche Touhill the person, you’ve probably heard of the performing arts center on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus that is named in her honor. Touhill spent 37 years with the university, including the final 12 as its chancellor. She served on the board for Trans World Airlines before American Airlines bought the company in 2001, and she also was on the boards for the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and Missouri Botanical Garden.